tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249531982017-11-05T23:55:22.826-08:00LapsuraMegan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.comBlogger308125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-17618036167567838122016-03-30T22:17:00.000-07:002016-03-31T12:19:56.504-07:00No Laughing MatterThere are two things that I will never joke at someone's expense about. (There are generally more than two, but these two are nolle prosequi material.)
1. A person's name. Even Drumpf. (Perhaps especially Drumpf; after all, it's not like you need to go excavating the ancestral past to find criticisms of that guy.)
No matter how unique you think your humour is, I guarantee you: the person has Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-61931730844722545852015-11-20T23:47:00.000-08:002015-11-20T23:48:58.059-08:00UnproductivityI just discovered that my writing tablet (or perhaps the stylus) has stopped working, so I had to haul out pen and paper for my annual drawing post. Then I discovered that I don't have any blank paper so I had to make do with cardboard, and then I discovered that I don't have any decent pens. At least it's still better than those very first MS Paint moments of my comic? Somewhat?
literally Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-60916958463268575822015-10-20T17:00:00.000-07:002015-10-20T17:00:07.933-07:00CanadianaThe other day, I was reflecting on how very different Canada is now from the nation I grew up in. My family was staunchly (almost rabidly) pro-Canada to the fault of being anti-American. Canada was the best country in the world, and being Canadian filled your heart with all kinds of pride, warmth, and hope. The border was less than a 2hr drive away, but I didn't set foot in the US until a Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-44926214973295562652015-03-26T21:15:00.000-07:002015-03-26T21:15:00.837-07:00TalesOnce in a while I find myself remembering something that I haven't thought about in a decade. I would like to linger over my memories more often so, to that end, I thought I would start writing them down. I've created a repository for tales from the past, which is mainly intended to be a memory lane in digital space for myself. This Tales blog is one of several writing projects I began this year,Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-2865299216205978932015-03-15T14:13:00.000-07:002015-03-26T14:53:34.535-07:00Remember the IdesThe Ides of March is one of the only days I remember to write. For four years it's been a melancholy anniversary for me, but finally this year I think I've come to terms with it. What has happened in the year since my last post? Well, lots of ups and downs—as usual, and as typical of everyone I expect.
In the fall, I participated in a (not quite complete) month of intensive yoga challenge. Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-75050917185652475742014-03-15T21:57:00.002-07:002014-03-15T22:16:41.037-07:00Less stuff, more catsTwo weeks later, the whole leak incident is finally wrapped up. I appreciate that the property manager took care of everything, though I still think that entering a suite without giving notice is objectively out of line. Leaving a job incomplete for days and a bunch of janitorial clutter in a corner of my apartment doesn't constitute sufficient notice, even if it is obvious that they'll need to Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-8180318033464079702014-03-09T10:42:00.001-07:002014-03-09T10:45:56.504-07:00A Million Things That Make Me UneasyI seem to be on some kind of roll here, so why not continue with the theme?
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
There probably are indeed at least half a million things that bug me. People who stand on the bus without hanging onto anything, for example (you just know they're going to blunder into you at the next unexpected halt). People who walk at anything less than a brisk stride (if Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-7895056556688029082014-03-01T20:17:00.001-08:002014-03-01T20:23:21.536-08:00The Ten Plagues of My ApartmentI hate to break stride, especially since I've been in the middle of writing another angryrant, but maybe a little comic relief is in order (even if it's a dark sort of humour).
Thursday morning I awoke to a mysterious dripping sound, which I reported later, from work, to whoever was in charge of the building in the manager's absence. When I got home, I saw that he had helpfully placed a 5-gallonMegan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-7921763244903021242014-02-10T23:38:00.000-08:002014-02-11T00:54:59.501-08:00February Day RantUH OH, a holiday celebrating families. Rant time.
Today was the second annual Family Day statutory holiday in BC (why we are different from the rest of the country is beyond me). This morning I was in line at the coffee shop near my house, and the fellow in front of me struck up a fairly one-sided conversation (because anyone who thinks I want to participate in social interaction when I'm not inMegan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-59673367509390624262014-01-19T23:02:00.001-08:002014-01-19T23:23:48.243-08:00Less Bread, More TaxesUsually my January resolutions for the year to come involve some sort of halfhearted attempt to "eat more healthily." It's a nice ideal and I support the theory behind it. The only problem is that usually that's as far as it goes, with me. Just an ideal that I can feel good about having.
But not this year!
In recent years, every time I go home to visit my family for Christmas or other vacationsMegan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-35486181366303120542014-01-19T22:33:00.000-08:002014-01-19T22:39:07.927-08:00Too Much Information2013. And I thought the year before had been a rollercoaster. Looking back, 2013 had some pretty ridiculous highs and lows, and both ends of the spectrum ended up changing the course of my life.
But right now, I'm only going to talk about the lows. Right now is going to be a truthful glimpse into my mind. I'd turn back if I were you.
I guess everything ground to a halt in the fall, when I was Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-26007205257001495672014-01-19T03:19:00.001-08:002014-01-19T03:30:13.923-08:00DecemberDecember was Christmas month, as is frequently the case. I headed back to Saskatchewan for a snowy holiday, skilfully evading the storms that delayed the whole country's travel plans like a seasoned mariner navigating fjords (or something; don't expect a good ocean-related simile from me, I only recently learned to not despise the sea). I spent Christmas Day flying, but that turned out to be a Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-5845619003739726402013-12-15T19:53:00.000-08:002013-12-15T19:53:27.225-08:00November AdventuresNovember wasn't marked by any single major events like the past few months have been, but it was still one of the bigger months of the year.
The biggest news of the month is that I quit my job at the VCM and have started working at UVic. Some kind of career change or positive move has been an idea I've tossed around for a long time, and although there is a lot about my old job that I loved and Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-45527787481616889262013-11-02T20:41:00.002-07:002013-11-02T20:43:04.071-07:00October is Saskatchewan MonthRight on the heels of my last trip, October is Saskatchewan month. This was my 5th trip in under 11 months (3 of those being international) which is very atypical for me.
More accurately, October is Thanksgiving month, but I've wanted to get back to Saskatchewan during the fall for several years now. There's just nothing like the gold of aspens on the prairies in autumn, or the burnt orange of Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-39392296849289676132013-10-31T23:00:00.000-07:002013-11-02T14:35:56.854-07:00September is Las Vegas MonthWell September has long passed, but I've been severely lacking in inertia and haven't gotten around to writing until now. But September needs writing about, for September is Las Vegas Month.
Gotta admit, I really enjoy going to Vegas. I love the spectacle, and the soundtrack that accompanies you down the
Strip, and the shows and the round-the-clockedness. I love the power I feel at traveling Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-74670513639945240002013-09-04T19:14:00.000-07:002013-09-21T20:40:48.336-07:00August is Birthday Month[Second installment in the new monthly Thing of the Month series]
Most people who know me a little will probably tell you that I hate birthdays, and in a lot of the most ubiquitous ways it's true: I don't like the typical spammy Facebook wall of variously iterated "happy bdays"; I don't like the begrudging work posse who gather around a hastily assembled card and scatter the very instant that Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-59352670880870557872013-09-02T20:53:00.000-07:002013-11-02T13:21:39.779-07:00When I was in high school, I had a tiny little tiger finch. We'd leave his cage door open so he could fly around the house whenever he wanted, and he loved to sit among the plants in the living room, look out the picture window, and sing about what he saw. Sometimes in the summer, we'd hang his cage out on the deck so he could feel the warm summer breeze and mingle with the goldfinches who Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-30009967884851688712013-08-04T23:55:00.002-07:002013-08-22T23:44:19.424-07:00July is Piano Camp MonthThis started out as an imaginative description of the first two weeks of July. I'm not so sure what it is anymore, but it's more than the sum of notes I scrawled during those two weeks. I haven't attempted a work of creative nonfiction of this magnitude since my writing class back in 2005ish. And yes, it's best to approach this as being more creative than otherwise.
July is Piano Camp Month
I Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-4506354589551333512013-01-04T01:12:00.000-08:002013-01-04T01:18:27.996-08:00Year in Review2012 was a surprisingly eventful year, and December the most eventful month. I don't blog nearly as often as I used to, but it seems appropriate to take a moment for some newer updates and reminisce about some older ones before they fade into the waves of the past. First for the recent...
For the week or so of Christmas, I was back in sunny Saskatchewan, where the frost was the most gorgeous Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-410943880892126452012-11-26T09:51:00.000-08:002012-11-26T09:54:33.307-08:00By-Election DayIf you live in Victoria, Calgary Centre, or Durham, today is By-Election Day. The Greens were out bright and early with their signs (wait, what?). If you're in one of these ridings, go out and vote!
Elections Canada assures me that:
By law, qualified electors
must have three consecutive hours to cast their vote on election day.
If your hours of work do not allow for three consecutive hoursMegan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-46472500652449680742012-11-20T18:21:00.002-08:002012-11-21T00:34:10.203-08:00FIPPAAfter an initial 3 days of majoring in Anthropology, I spent my first year of undergraduate studies doing coursework for a Pre-Journalism program. The political science and social studies classes were engaging and I was interested in the world. When I let go of my J-School ambitions to pursue other fields, however, I stopped really following current events. I don't have TV and don't watch the Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-5455585848016907162012-08-12T17:53:00.002-07:002012-08-12T17:53:50.481-07:00Perseids and other summer thingsSure, stargazing doesn't work well in the city. I didn't see many meteors, but lying peacefully in a dry patch of a nearby school's playing field, looking up at the sky with a good friend—well this is as great as my Saturday nights tend to get. I always wanted to be an astronomer, so any time I get to revisit that dream (even in a small way) is a good time. Especially since the sprinkler where weMegan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-69645082937129695942012-07-23T23:21:00.000-07:002012-07-23T23:24:29.860-07:00Leaving HopeA few years back, I lived in a cramped upstairs suite overlooking Clover Point for a little less than a year. The ocean was almost at my doorstep. Some days the wind would stir the water and it seemed like the ocean was taking over the shore, with big waves breaking and a misty haze reaching up toward the clouds. The parasailers were always out there, even on those ocean-charged days.
It was aMegan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-49641080869159425872012-07-10T22:43:00.000-07:002012-07-10T22:44:46.304-07:00
I still intend to write a travel post about my vacation last month, but in the meantime I've had to focus pretty much exclusively on work. For the past week I've been working in a makeshift office at the university helping out with piano academy.
The first day of anything is always chaotic, especially if you happen to be the person in charge of keeping things organized. Monday was therefore a Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24953198.post-67225146771885405252012-06-02T22:30:00.000-07:002012-06-03T09:23:14.745-07:00Airport Reflections
On Thursday I flew back to Saskatchewan. I don't enjoy flying; I get nervous beforehand and motion sick en route, and occasionally (this trip included) there's the additional hassle of delayed baggage.
Oddly enough, I like airports. I'm not an adventurous person, and I like the fact that no matter where I am, the airport will be much the same as it is anywhere. Nobody is any more out of place Megan Nellhttps://plus.google.com/102954940891948438979noreply@blogger.com0